Minimalist Guide to Studying: 6 Tips to Simplify and De-stress

Before my last organic chemistry exam, my kitchen table was flooded with notes. With all that clutter, I wasted time flipping through haphazard piles and cross-referencing notes online. Plus, I went through 20 pages of scratch paper doing practice problems.

Sound familiar?

Vivienne, my 1.5 year-old German shepherd, snoozes while I work on homework
I have recently been cutting back on paper clutter and investigating effective,
sustainable and minimalist study habits

With some consolidation and simple planning, you can simplify your academic routine. Here are some tips for college and graduate students on how save time, money and study more effectively.

A minimalist approach:

1. Clear your workspace.
Physical clutter is distracting. Before you sit down to study at your desk or workspace, clear off all those stray papers, books and supplies. Wipe down any gunk left behind. It's more inviting to start with a clean, clear, fresh surface.

Know what environment optimizes your concentration. Facebook is for social networking, not studying, so log off immediately. If you don't have the self control, ask a trustworthy friend to change your password and keep it from you until your exam is over. Need white noise? Turn on an air filter to zone out any chatter from roommates, TV noise, or rowdy dogs. Study well to music? Choose something that will motivate and inspire you. Listening to classical music can improve concentration, memory and retention.

2. Reduce paper waste. 
Start taking notes on a laptop and digitize whenever possible. Save paper and money by halting mindless printing of notes and readings. Consolidate your digitized notes through applications like Evernote make note taking a breeze, and you can even digitally annotate important texts.

A lap-sized dry erase board is an excellent alternative to scratch paper. When I was taking intro organic chemistry and physics as a pre-med student, it was an excellent way to interact with the mechanisms and free-body diagrams. However, be cautious when purchasing dry erase markers and look for brands that are non-toxic and low-odor. Many claim to be non-toxic, but actually produce harmful neurotoxins. Do your research beforehand and make sure you're purchasing markers, like the refillable, recyclable AusPen, that don't harm your body or the environment.

There are plenty of affordable ultraportable computers that take up less space than a 5-subject notebook and weigh less than a paper-filled binder. Be sure to back up important files online through free services like google docs, or purchase an external hard drive. Kindles and e-readers are excellent ways to lighten your backpack and consolidate your textbooks, but you can also download e-reader applications to your computer to access them from your desktop.

3. Reduce mental clutter.
A recent breakup bothering you? Too stressed to focus? Clear your mind before diving into an intense study session. I usually try to meditate for a few minutes before starting, especially if I am feeling stressed or anxious. Be positive. Breath in deeply, straighten your spine, pull the crown of your head to the sky, and exhale any negative thoughts. Studies show negative thinking can harm your performance on exams.


4. Nourish your body and brain. For every hour you study, take a 10 minute study breaks and briefly review what you've been studying. Consume healthy snacks, like fresh fruit and veggies, to provide your body will the right fuel. Processed foods are low-grade fuel and can make you overeat, feel worse and more stressed. Your body deserves organic biofuel, not the toxic, preservative-laced GMOs that are found in most conventional junk foods. If you absolutely need a caffeine boost, skip the coffee, energy drinks and sodas, and instead opt for freshly-brewed organic green tea sans the sugar.

5. Sleep. Get 7-8 hours of sleep every night (although some specialists recommend 9-10 hours for teens and young adults), especially before an important exam. It's tempting to pull an all-nighter when you feel unprepared. I have stayed up all night countless times in my college career and drowned my body in caffeine. And you know what? It's not worth it. It may work a few times, but it's unhealthy in the long-term, makes you feel like crap all day, and takes days to recover. Sleeping ensures optimal learning and promotes better recall if you study before bedtime.

6. Don't procrastinate. I know, I know. This is where I constantly fall short. If you plan ahead and follow these steps before your test is just hours away, you'll be less stressed, happier and healthier. Not to mention you'll boost your retention by spreading out studying and gaining more time to just... enjoy.

Wardrobe Decluttering Challenge & Starting Over

Athena sits by the 66qt storage tub that will contain my entire wardrobe. I am challenging
myself to pare down my excess clothing and minimize possessions before I move cross-country.

I love the concept of starting over. Remember that first day of college, or moving to your first apartment? If you were like me, you had only a few possessions and a small suitcase of clothing, ready to be on your own.

With no debt, car payments and bills to pay, we were free.

Fast forward: I've accumulated a lot of junk and clutter since that first day in my freshman dorm, including some hefty loans from Sallie Mae. From outdated textbooks to University knickknacks, it's time to eliminate excess. In a few months, I will be graduating college and moving more than 2,000 miles from Louisiana to Washington for medical school. I will sell or give away anything that doesn't fit in the tiny trunk of my Acura, which will enable me to forgo extra moving expenses.



Why am I downsizing my stuff? To obtain financial freedom and freedom from material ties, travel lightly and sustainably, and live a healthier life.

In the journey to minimalism, we all have to start somewhere. As a reformed shopaholic, clothing has always been my kryptonite. There's no magic number I hope to reach, but I know I still have some serious downsizing to go.


 I've been paring down my wardrobe for several months now. I am only allowing myself a 66 qt tub (pictured above) to contain my wardrobe, and anything that doesn't make the cut will go to my local Goodwill.

Here is my Pre-moving Wardrobe Decluttering Challenge:


1. Get rid of the excess storage bins containing accessories, shoes, and seasonal wear. Get rid of half the contents and consolidate to dresser.

2. Get rid of the dresser. Declutter half the contents and consolidate to closet.

3. Get rid of half the clothes on coat hangers. Then get rid of all the hangers.

4. Pare down entire wardrobe to fit in 66qt tub.

5. Declutter more.

MINIMALISM  + DECLUTTERING = FREEDOM

We put so much time into cleaning, maintaining, buying and replacing our things. By decluttering your possessions, you can achieve the liberty and lightness of starting over.

Things won't make us happier in the long run. Experiences endure and fulfill. Things only weigh us down.

By pursuing a minimalist lifestyle and challenging yourself to posses only what you need and cherish, you can save money on packing and storing your possessions and become more conscious of how your stuff is preventing you from achieving freedom

Reclaiming What's Lost: Reconciling Talent and Realism

Is talent ever lost or gained? Or, is it something we can manipulate with time, a part of our genetic wisdom?

A few weeks ago, I went to Barnes and Noble in hopes of finding something to motivate myself to overhaul my poor practice habits. As a musician, I'm stuck in the equivalent of a writer's block, where I haven't had the guts to lasso the creative energies jumbling around my head. I haven't trusted my Muse. But now, I'm suiting up for battle.

In the "The War of Art," Steven Pressfield describes these inner battles--the musician who won't play, the writer who won't write, the chemist who won't concoct, the runner who won't run--as a product of "Resistance": What stands between the "life we live" and the "unlived life within us."

Resistance is parasitic. It thrives off anyone who wants to make a difference in their world. It's every time you've ever said "I can't," every time you've exchanged dreams for what was disguised as reality, as "too little time," as deluded priorities. I stopped blogging for more than a year because of Resistance. This book is a must-read for anyone who wants a little kick of encouragement to get out of that nasty funk that Resistance leaves in its wake. It wants you to surrender, to give up, and deprive yourself and others of your individual contribution.

Between summer classes and working at the hospital, I've intermittently been reading the book "A Devil to Play" by Jasper Rees--an almost an ironic find given the nature of my soul searching. The book is the narrative of a middle-aged journalist who attempts to master his childhood instrument--the French horn. This particularly resonated with me since I started to wonder if, by straying from my teenaged dreams of returning to Carnegie Hall to play, once again, I was abandoning the part of myself that used to believe talent could be forged into anything with persistence.

However, as I've reclaimed my dream for medical school, I realized that perhaps compromise is not a bad thing. Instead of looking at life as the shedding of dreams for "being realistic," I'm looking at life through a healthier lens--as the loose interplay of passion, where each dream overlaps another. I will become a doctor, but I will not surrender the pieces of myself that say artist, musician, poet, writer.

Pressfield says that the most important part of ART is WORK: "Because when we sit down day after day and keep grinding, something mysterious starts to happen. A process is set into motion by which, inevitably and infallibly, heaven comes to our aid. Unforeseen forces enlist in our cause; serendipity reinforces our purpose." We can't just bank on talent alone.

Branching off of Pressfield's brilliant reflections on what holds us back from grasping that "unlived life" within us, musicians and writers have everything in common when it comes to the necessity of practice and deliberate, forced time slots to do so daily. Improvement is impossible to gauge without constant stimulation. It's unrealistic, almost superhuman, to acknowledge all my priorities horizontally--to say that studying for the MCAT today has as much precedent as playing my French horn or tackling some poetry by T.S. Eliot or training for that marathon I plan to run.

But It's not healthy to think that way. It's so easy to fall into another rut, to beat yourself up about your shortcomings, your failures. That's counterproductive. (I did that this morning when I slept through my alarm that said it was time to get up and run 5 miles.) Without compromising those future dreams, any soul-searching artist must have the end in sight at all times, and make sure one foot is always being thrust in front of the other. Forward motion is imperative. It may be a hard road to travel, but as long as you're moving in the direction you want to go, discouragement it easier to brush off and move past. Stagnancy is the enemy.

While I may not master the horn and my poems may never be published or spoken aloud, I know that the little progress I make in one area is building on the other. Just by picking up my horn this morning for a 20 minute warm-up, I've beaten out that feeling of utter defeat. I don't want to compromise, but I must accommodate.

So now, it's your turn. Where are you letting resistance beat you in your life, but more importantly, what are you going to do about it?



EDIT: For more on historian/writer Steven Pressfield, click here.